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Sino-Greek Relatons in Greek and Chinese Media, 2020

Plamen Tonchev

Research Associates:

Pavlos Petdis, Yuliana Porja, Yannis Yannopoulos

March 2021

FOREWORD

The Insttute of Internatonal Economic Relatons (IIER) has carried out systematc research into Sino-Greek

relatons in recent years, including in-depth studies of ‘Chinese Investment in Greece and the Big Picture of Sino-Greek Relatons’ (2017) and ‘China’s Image in Greece, 2008-2018’. Since 2016, the insttute has regularly contributed chapters on Greece to the annual reports released by the European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC).

This report is yet another step forward in enriching IIER’s China expertse. What is qualitatvely new about this specific research is the comparatve analysis of Greek and Chinese media in 2020 and early 2021. It is hoped

that the report will contribute to a growing body of internatonal literature on the crucial role of media in shaping perceptons and, in partcular, the way China projects its narratves as foreign policy tools.

The study is based on a mix of: (i) quanttatve media monitoring within a representatve sample of influental Greek print media outlets, while several TV channels are also covered by the research; (ii) a qualitatve appraisal of Greece-related themes presented by major Chinese media; (iii) comparatve analysis of media coverage of the two countries and their relatons by Greek and Chinese media. Aſter an extensive review of data on both

sides, the team dove beneath the surface for possible explanatons of the trends identfied. The research

methodology is presented in the Annex.

While writng this report, the authors have identfied areas for further research into the specific audience targeted by Chinese media in Greece or appropriate metrics that could help capture the effectveness of China’s policies in the media sector. As such, this report is merely the start of a much longer intellectual journey.

The authors extend their warm thanks to several esteemed scholars for their valuable insights and constructve

comments on earlier draſts of the report. Credit is due to Mr. John Seaman from the Insttut Français des Relatons Internatonales (IFRI); Prof. Asteris Houliaras from the University of the Peloponnese; Dr. Richard Turcsányi from Palacký University in Olomouc; and, last but not least, Prof. Charalambos Tsardanidis from the University of the Aegean and Director of IIER.

Disclaimer:

The opinions expressed in this publicaton are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Insttute of Internatonal Economic Relatons.

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CONTENTS

Executve Summary...........................................................................................................................4 Abbreviatons....................................................................................................................................6 1. China in Greek Print Media............................................................................................................7

1.1. COVID-19 Pandemic........................................................................................................................7 1.2. US-China stand-off..........................................................................................................................8 1.3. China’s Economy.............................................................................................................................8 1.4. Other China-Related Topics.............................................................................................................9

2. Sino-Greek Relatons in Greek Media.............................................................................................9

2.1. Economic Cooperaton..................................................................................................................10 2.2. COSCO’s Investment in Piraeus.....................................................................................................10 2.3. Sino-Greek Cultural Ties................................................................................................................12 2.4. Other Topics..................................................................................................................................12 2.5. Greek TV Reports..........................................................................................................................13

3. Greece and Sino-Greek Relatons in Chinese media......................................................................13

3.1. COVID-19 in Mainstream Media...................................................................................................13 3.2. Economic and Cultural Cooperaton in Mainstream Media.........................................................15 3.3. Social Media.................................................................................................................................17

4. Comparatve Analysis..................................................................................................................18

4.1. Range of Topics and Tone of Coverage.........................................................................................18 4.2. Accuracy of Reportng...................................................................................................................19 4.3. Editorial Independence.................................................................................................................20 4.4. Sino-Greek Relatons as Presented in Greek and Chinese Media.................................................21

5. China’s Narratves Promoted in Greek and Chinese Media...........................................................22

5.1. China as a Benign Superpower.....................................................................................................22 5.2. Unique Sino-Greek Friendship......................................................................................................23 5.3. The Story Behind Outcast Topics...................................................................................................23 5.4. Channels for the Projecton of Chinese Narratves in Greece.......................................................25 5.5. China’s Broader Strategy vis-à-vis Greece....................................................................................25

Annex: Note on Research Methodology...........................................................................................27 List of Figures:

Figure 1: China in the World: Topic Clusters…………………………………………………………………………………………7 Figure 2: Share of Sino-Greek Rela t ons in Coverage by Greek Print Media………………………………………..10 Figure 3: Local Ac t vists Stop PPA/COSCO Lorries in Piraeus….……………………………………………………………11 Figure 4: Arrival of Chinese Medical Supplies in Greece, 21 March 2020…………………………………………….14 Figure 5: Coverage of Sino-Greek Rela t ons in Greek Print Media and Chinese Media………………………..19 Figure 6: COSCO’s Investment in Piraeus in Greek and Chinese Media, 2020……………………………………...21 Figure 7: Other Aspects of Sino-Greek Rela t ons in Greek and Chinese Media, 2020…………………………..22

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Executve Summary

China and Bilateral Relatons in Greek Media

In 2020, COVID-19 dominated the discourse in Greek media and China was a big chunk of it:
During the first quarter of the year, many media reports stressed the responsibility of Chinese



authorites for the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus across the globe. Subsequently, as Chinese authorites contained the outbreak and the pandemic hit the West, the atenton of Greek media turned to China’s role as a producer of personal protectve equipment and controversies surrounding its ‘mask diplomacy’ in Europe.



The intense Sino-American confrontaton, exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis and entangled with the presidental electon in the US, was another key feature of the discourse on China in Greek media in 2020.
In additon to these key themes, Greek media covered an extraordinarily broad spectrum of China-



related issues, from poverty eradicaton and human rights violatons to geopolitcs and the ‘Thucydides’ trap’ to new digital platorms for music that can be accessed by Chinese citzens.

Sino-Greek relatons accounted for slightly more than one-third of all China-related media coverage in Greece:



Between March and June 2020, there were numerous media reports about the delivery of personal protectve equipment donated by and purchased from China.
At the same tme, economic cooperaton, mainly revolving around COSCO’s investment in the port of
Piraeus, remained the single biggest cluster of Sino-Greek topics covered by Greek media throughout the year.
Over the last quarter of 2020, a large number of news items referred to growing disputes between the
COSCO-controlled Piraeus Port Authority and local stakeholders.
Notably, the share of Sino-Greek cultural tes in the total coverage of China-related topics was



extremely limited, despite the fact that 2021 is the Greece-China Year of Culture and Tourism.

Greece and Bilateral Relatons in Chinese Media

Major Chinese media outlets reviewed in the framework of this study followed a different trajectory:



Over the inital period of the pandemic, Chinese media vehemently dismissed accusatons of Beijing’s responsibility for the coronavirus crisis. Subsequently, they started reportng the provision of medical supplies to other countries.



There were many stories of donatons in Greece and regularly quoted expressions of grattude by Greek beneficiaries.  Piraeus was consistently mentoned by Chinese media as the biggest commercial port in the Mediterranean and ‘the dragon head of the Belt and Road Initatve in Europe’.



Economic cooperaton between the two countries enjoyed ample coverage by Chinese media outlets, with statements made by Greek officials, who acknowledged China’s potental as a source of investment capital, a technological powerhouse and an innovaton champion. Shipping, tourism, green energy, e-commerce and services were highlighted, inter alia, in Chinese media reports as promising areas of contnued Sino-Greek cooperaton.



In September, the high-profile visit of China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi to Greece was covered extensively by Chinese media.

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Two Very Different Stories

It is quite clear that Greek and Chinese media carry very different stories about China and Greece, and their bilateral relatons. Notably, both the content and tone of Greek print media coverage of China and Sino-Greek relatons were marked by a negatve sentment: at - 27.3% and - 10.3%, respectvely. By contrast, Chinese media painted a remarkably positve picture of Greece and its relatons with Beijing. It appears that media in both countries are interested in bilateral economic cooperaton, whereas the themes of cultural tes and politcal affinity frequently covered by Chinese reporters are hardly reciprocated by their Greek counterparts.

To a certain extent, this striking contrast could be atributed to the fact that coverage of Sino-Greek relatons in

Greek and Chinese media does not comply with high standards on accuracy and objectvity, though to different degrees and for different reasons:



While the Chinese news agency Xinhua has a fully operatonal office in Athens, there are no Greek correspondents accredited in Beijing. As a result, Greek media rely almost exclusively on foreign, mostly western, sources. However, it is worth notng that at tmes Greek media outlets present the ‘Chinese side of the story’, e.g. by republishing Xinhua reports.



Some Greek media outlets are affiliated with politcal partes or pressure groups, but nonetheless there is a wide array of perspectves and opportunites for a public discussion on China and Sino-Greek relatons. Conversely, Greece is portrayed in Chinese media in relaton to a rather short list of issues. In additon, Chinese media coverage of Greece and Sino-Greek relatons is tghtly aligned with official government policies and follows a script, which steers reportng towards oſt-predictable conclusions.  A key finding relates to the systematc omission of certain topics by Chinese media. A prime example of this half-truth template is the tension in Piraeus, which was widely covered by Greek media outlets in late 2020 and, yet, related issues did not make it into Chinese media reports.



The Golden Visa programme of the Greek government, seen as a source of foreign capital for the natonal economy, is yet another telling example. While Greek media report that more than 75% of all Golden Visa holders at the end of 2020 were Chinese citzens, the IIER research team did not record a single reference to this issue in the official Chinese media outlets reviewed.

China’s Charm Offensive

There are two key narratves systematcally projected by China in the media of the two countries:



One of them relates to China’s standing as a benign superpower, which is promotng a new set of harmonious internatonal relatons, based on rapid socio-economic development and ‘win-win cooperaton’.
The second narratve pertains to Sino-Greek relatons, with China’s image carefully craſted as one of a



true friend that offers generous assistance to Greece. While Chinese media should be examined in the framework of Beijing’s broader public diplomacy, in projectng these narratves in Greece China appears to deploy a ‘customised’, country-specific, strategy:



Chinese authorites and media alike have chosen a friendly and accommodatng stance to Greece rather than the ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’ reported in other European countries in 2020.
Unlike developments in other parts of Europe, no Greek media outlet is directly controlled by Chinese



interests. However, Beijing seeks to use Greek media as amplifiers of its messaging, through cooperaton agreements with central insttutons, such as the natonal news agency of Greece, or influental media outlets.  China’s charm offensive does not seem to be geared towards winning the hearts and minds of the general public in Greece – rather, Chinese media tend to serve a targeted approach focusing on Greek politcal and economic elites.

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Abbreviatons

ACF - Ancient Civilizatons Forum AIIB - Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank AMNA - Athens Macedonian News Agency

BRI - Belt and Road Initatve

CAI - Comprehensive Agreement on Investment CEE - Central & Eastern Europe

CEIS - China Economic Informaton Service CGTN - China Global Television Network

CPC - Communist Party of China

CRI - China Radio Internatonal EIA - Environmental Impact Assessment

FDI - Foreign Direct Investment

HRADF - Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund HPCS - Hellenic Port Community System IPTO/ADMIE - Independent Power Transmission Operator MoU - Memorandum of Understanding PCCI - Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry

PCT - Piraeus Container Terminal

PRC - People’s Republic of China

PPA - Piraeus Port Authority

PPE - Personal Protectve Equipment RCEP - Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership SHIC - Sino-Hellenic Investors’ Confederaton

SOE - State-Owned Enterprise

TEU - Twenty-Foot Container Equivalent Unit WHO - World Health Organizaton

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1. China in Greek Print Media

The monitoring exercise carried out by the IIER research team revealed that China-related coverage by Greek print media could be broken down to four main topic clusters that broadly reflect the Zeitgeist of 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic, the US-China confrontaton, the global economic slump and China’s partal recovery, and various ‘other’ issues (Figure 1). As expected, the pandemic that broke out and spread across the globe in 2020 largely overshadowed all the other topics. COVID-19 was the single biggest China-related topic cluster (53.46%) in Greek print media, which covered the outbreak in Wuhan, the heated debate about the origin of the pathogen and the responsibility of Chinese authorites, as well as a raſt of conspiracy theories that mushroomed aſterwards. 2020 was also marked by the intense Sino-American confrontaton (39.06%), which was only exacerbated by the pandemic and became entangled with the run-up to the presidental electon in the US later that year. China’s economy accounted for 15.51% of media coverage in Greece, while a wide array of other topics made up 34.07% of the total. Notably, these topic clusters were intertwined to a large extent, e.g. many news items referred simultaneously to the pandemic, the Chinese economy, and the stand-off between Washington and Beijing.

Figure 1:

China in the World: Topic Clusters in Select Greek Print Media

60.00%

53.46%

50.00%

39.06%

40.00%

34.07%

30.00% 20.00%

15.51%

10.00%
0.00%

• Pandemic
• US-China
• China’s Economy
• Other

N.B. Total exceeds 100% due to overlaps across groups of topics.
Source: Insttute of Internatonal Economic Relatons

1.1. COVID-19 Pandemic

Throughout all of 2020 media reports in Greece referred to the COVID-19 crisis, startng from the outbreak in Wuhan and covering the spread of the pandemic globally. During the first quarter of the year, many reports were clearly negatve, as they stressed either the cover-up of the oubreak by Chinese authorites at the outset of the crisis or China’s moral responsibility for its belated response and the spread of the virus beyond its borders. A number of artcles conveyed accusatons that China withheld crucial informaton from the WHO, with some of them highlightng China’s internatonal isolaton at the inital stage of the coronavirus outbreak. The EU was reportedly one of the internatonal actors exertng pressure on China for increased transparency. Aſter strenuous efforts and a lot of arm-twistng reported by Greek media, in November 2020 it was announced